WBSC Premier12 2024 Preview: 12 teams chase international baseball glory

The WBSC Premier12 2024 presented by RAXUS, the most important international baseball tournament of the year, is set to showcase the best of international baseball once again when it starts in Guadalajara and Tepic, Mexico on Saturday.

In itsthird edition, with Japan as defending champions, the 15-day competition takingplace across Japan, Mexico and Taiwan, will showcase an impressive pool of professionalplayers. The 12 participating teams collectively have more than 60 playersaffiliated with Major League Baseball (MLB) organisations while each team hason their rosters players with MLB experience during their careers. Japan(Nippon Professional Baseball, NPB), Chinese Taipei (Chinese ProfessionalBaseball League, CPBL) and Korea (Korea Baseball Organization, KBO) selectedsome of the top athletes in their domestic leagues, who are all proud WBSCAssociate Members. The Mexican Baseball League (LMB) and the Mexican PacificLeague (LMP) have players on various rosters, and the Venezuelan Winter League(LVBP) has fully complied with the Venezuelan Federation requests.

This year’s edition of the WBSC’s flagship event will be a memorable one, and the last limited to 12 teams. Starting from the 2027 edition, the top 12 men's baseball teams in the WBSC/KONAMI Men’s Baseball World Ranking at the end of 2025 will be joined by four more teams with an eight-team qualification process taking place in 2026 chasing four spots to see who will join the top 12 teams for a 16-team group stage in 2027.

In WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari's words: "Following on from the success of the first two editions, there was a positive response to the proposed changes among all our marketing partners and major stakeholders, and we are confident that fans will love seeing more teams involve."

The 2024edition will also be the most competitive. The 12 participants will split intotwo groups of six, with only the top two finishers of each group advancing tothe second round. Eight teams had the opportunity to participate in the secondround in 2015 while six advanced to the Super Round in 2019.

Group A hasa clear favourite in world No. 5 USA, but it is impossible to discount one ofthe other five teams from the Super Round race.

Afterleading his country to Olympic silver, former World Series winner as a playerand manager Mike Scioscia selected a team blending veterans with top prospects.
Left-hander Rich Hill, at 44 and with 90 MLB wins under his belt, is the mostdecorated player. Anthony Gose, also a left-handed pitcher, helped USA winsilver at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. Shortstop Carson Williams (21) is MLB'sno. 4 prospect.

World No. 2
Mexico will play on home soil. Manager Benji Gil, who helped Scioscia win theWorld Series as a player, announced his roster with a bold statement: "Wewant to be the highest ranked team in the world."

Mexicoproved the surprise package of the 2015 and 2019 editions, both times makingthe medal round and earning bronze in 2019. Veteran Fernando Salas contributedin 2019 and will lead an impressive pitching staff, featuring former WorldSeries champions Victor Gonzalez and Humberto Castellanos and CPBL's RakutenMonkeys starters Marcelo Martinez and Manny Bañuelos.

World No. 4
Venezuela will rely on strong starting pitchers such as Ricardo Pinto, YohanderMéndez and
Nivaldo Rodriguez. They all have MLB experience.

Theirpitching must be tested at WBSC Premier12 level, but world No. 7 Netherlands arerich in talent. Former MLB players Didi Gregorius and Jonathan Schoop guaranteesolid defence in the infield.

For world No.8
Puerto Rico, former MLB superstar Juan González selected a mix of MLB veteranssuch as Yadiel Rivera, Dereck Rodríguez, Nicholas Padilla and Duane Underwood, and young prospects such asU-23 Baseball World Cup reigning MVP Edgardo Villegas.

World No. 10
Panama will count on MLB experience from right-hander Jaime Barria, who spentthe 2024 season with KBO's Hanwha Eagles, and infielder Rubén Tejada, who is now with LMB'sYucatan Leones.

Group B hasanother clear favourite in world No. 1 Japan, the defending WBSC Premier12 andWorld Baseball Classic champions, the Tokyo 2020 gold medallists, the winnersof the last editions of the WBSC U-15 and U-18 Baseball World Cups, and thewinners of the last two editions of the WBSC U-23 Baseball World Cup.

Manager
Hirokazu Ibata selected seven World Baseball Classic winners, including veteranshortstop Sosuke Genda, and built a solid pitching staff with some of the bestNPB relievers, such as Yomiuri Giants closer Taisei Ota. Second baseman ShugoMaki recently helped the Yokohama BayStars to win the Japan Series, whileKazuma Okamoto hit 27 home runs for the Giants.

World No. 4
Korea participated in both previous WBSC Premier12 finals, defeating USA in2015 and losing to Japan in 2019. Despite selecting a relatively young team,manager Joong-il Ryu put together a very competitive roster. One of the youngestplayers is 21-year-old phenom Doyeong Kim. The third baseman hit 38 home runsand stole 40 bases, helping the Kia Tigers to the Korean Series title. Ryu'sbullpen counts on five KBO closers, including saves leader Hai-Young Jung ofthe Kia Tigers.

World No. 2
Chinese Taipei will rely on two former CPBL MVPs in infielders Li Lin andYu-Hsien Chu, talented prospects under contract with MLB organisations such ascatcher Lyle Lin, and solid pitching. Kuan-Yu Chen of the Rakuten Monkeysplayed in both the 2015 and 2019 editions of the WBSC Premier12. Manager Hao-JuTseng has selected his 28-player roster from an initial pool of 80 players.

World No. 9
Cuba may not be dominating international baseball as they used to, but managerArmando Johnson has put together a respectable roster. The best-known player isinfielder Yoan Moncada, who appeared in over 700 MLB games. Liván Moinelo, who played the JapanSeries with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks, will be the top starting pitcher.
Raidel Martínez of the Chunichi
Dragons is one of NPB's best closers, and former Japan Series winner and WBSC BaseballWorld Cup Home Run King Alfredo Despaigne is expected to provide power.

World No.12 Dominican Republic had a "complicated" selection process,according to manager César Martin. The pitching staff has in Wily Peralta andDiego Castillo MLB veterans of over 250 games each - Castillo appeared in sevenMLB games in 2024. Martin believes pitching will be the team's strength. Still,third baseman Kelvin Gutiérrez, switch-hitting middle infielder Alen Hanson and utility Arismendy Alcántara guarantee extensive MLBexperience at bat. Shortstop José Devers played three MLB games for the MiamiMarlins in 2024.

Last butnot least, world No. 15 Australia cannot be overlooked in the Super Round race.
Infielder Travis Bazzana was the No.1 pick overall in MLB's draft, and theroster is rich in World Baseball Classic and WBSC Premier12 experience.
Left-hander Steve Kent participated in the 2015 and 2019 editions, the pitchingstaff is experienced and solid, and right-hander Warwick Saupold andleft-hander Lewis Thorpe guarantee MLB experience.